At around 1 in the morning, the media person started his journey from the Green Valley Resort. Soumen agreed and somehow he arranged the fuel. The SEZ was a dream project of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the then chief minister of West Bengal. The BUPC (baked by the Maoists) was an organisation that gave stiff armed resistance against the land acquisition required for chemical SEZ planned by the Salim Group of Indonesia. “It’s good to reach Nandigram police station early otherwise we will not be able to reach due to dug up roads and extra vigilant armed guards of Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC.) There is a risk if we travel during daytime.” “Dada (elder brother) will arrange it tomorrow morning,” said Soumen.īut the journalist said he wanted it right then as he wanted to enter Nandigram by early morning of January 7, 2007. The odd request around midnight came as a surprise for Soumen. TMC Protégé Turned Bete Noire: Why BJP Pitted Suvendu Against Didi in Nandigram's Bloody Fields Soumen, manager for a resort and well connected in the area, was about to leave the Green Valley Resort in Tamluk in East Midnapore when a journalist asked him to arrange for 20 litres of petrol as there was no fuel in his official car.
Kolkata: It was around 11.45 pm and there was nip in the air on that fateful night in January 2007.